Livermore-LAVTA
Vasco (Road), the website calls the station Vasco Road but all signage at the station and announcements for the station simply refer to it as Vasco, is the easternmost ACE Station in the Tri-Valley. The station opened with the line's inaugural run on October 19, 1998. It is primarily a park & ride stop, for commuters traveling to jobs in Silicon Valley but the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory does provide non-public shuttle service for its employees taking the train over Altamont Pass from the station to the laboratory complex just south of the station. There are a few LVTA Wheels buses near the station but none serve the station directly. The station lacks a ticket booth, there are only a few ticket validators on the platform. All passengers wanting to use the station must pre-purchase tickets in advance. The nearest ticket seller is at the Downtown Livermore Transit Center and ACE Rail Station where the LVTA Agent sells tickets throughout the day.
The station has a single low-level side platform along the north side of a track with the middle portion of it nestled beneath the overpass of Vasco Road (a wide Boulevard). The platform has a simple white fence and white beams holding up the purple ACE Station signs. The only amenities for waiting passengers are three bus shelters. Two are a brownish color and one is black, all have built in benches. More interestingly the platform has two entrances and access roads, one along each side of the Vasco Road overpass bridge. The main parking lot is at along the eastern half of the platform. It is slightly below the platform and a ramp and staircase lead down from the platform to it. This parking lot includes a bus stop (no LVTA Wheels buses directly serve the station) right at its entrance. There are quite a few areas of vegetation inside it, making it less a concrete jungle than it might be. All access is via a long driveway access road that leads south from Brisa Street. There is a smaller parking lot narrow car loop, and the only sidewalk to the station that arrives at the western end of the platform and is at the same level. This road has a simple entrance/exit from only the southbound lanes of Vasco Road (just south of the intersection with Brisa Street) with a median blocking access to the northbound lanes. At the entrance to the car loop is a new black sign with the new ACE logo and Altamont Corridor (instead of Commuter) Express name.
All Photos taken on 11 June, 2013
